


my sixth and last

by clairehelene



Series: nct high school au [1]
Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Chatting & Messaging, Everyone Is Gay, Fluff, M/M, Na Jaemin is Whipped, Texting, but i cant really apologise because theyre my dads askdjl, i wonder if there's someone who got every single reference i threw into this??, istg nomin are so oblivious, look i just love them a lot okay, lots of mutual pining, mentioned drinking, props to you if you did, theres also a lot of jaeyong
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-03
Updated: 2018-09-03
Packaged: 2019-06-29 15:37:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 16,439
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15732378
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/clairehelene/pseuds/clairehelene
Summary: this was the sixth time jaemin had transferred to a new school, and he hoped it was his last.





	my sixth and last

**Author's Note:**

> first of all, if you were looking for a chatfic, please be aware that this is like 65% actual story telling and 35% texting!
> 
> i had this story idea on my mind for a reeeaaally long time, and i'm glad i finally get to upload it now. i tried to be funny and i hope it's not too bad lmao. i also edited the ages of the members btw so it'd fit better into the story (basically, the dreamies minus mark are 15/16 and sophomores, while everyone else minus taeil are 18/19 and seniors. taeil has been out of school for a while and goes to college at the moment).
> 
> also yes, i named the high school neo high school don't @ me
> 
> now have fun reading!!
> 
> [usernames if some are unclear:  
> taeil: Moon Taeil  
> johnny: oh! JoHNNY  
> taeyong: yongie (✿ ♥‿♥)  
> yuta: sicheng's #1 fan  
> kun: not fat kun  
> dongyoung: the Mom (tm)  
> ten: ten out of 10  
> jaehyun: jaehyunnie (ノ*゜▽゜*)  
> winwin: sicheng  
> jungwoo: snoopy  
> lucas: XUXI  
> mark: mork  
> renjun: renjunnie  
> jeno: jeYES  
> donghyuck: hyuck carey  
> jaemin: nana  
> chenle: lele  
> jisung: jisung pwwark]

if you looked at the amounts of times na jaemin had transferred to another school, you would think he was used to it by now. used to the curious looks he’d get while he stood in front of his new class and awkwardly introduced himself. used to how everything seemed _so_ different from his former school. used to the new faces of students and teachers.

but he wasn’t. on the morning of his first day at his new school, he spent fifteen minutes sitting on his bed, imagining everything that could go wrong on this day. maybe they’d see him as a weirdo and he would never find any friends? or perhaps they’d prank him by putting a whoopee cushion onto his seat, resulting in him not finding friends either? what if-

“jaemin, sweetie,” his mother interrupted him and sat down next to him. “you’re making that face again.  please stop over-thinking, and get ready for school, okay? there’s no reason to be scared, you know that, don’t you?”

jaemin nodded quietly. his mother got up but jaemin grabbed her arm and pulled her down again so he could hug her. he knew she was smiling even though he couldn’t see her face and he buried his face deeper into her shoulder. a gentle hand caressed his back and he slowly felt his angst subsiding.

“now, let’s have breakfast and then i’ll drive you to school, okay?” she suggested after they pulled away and the boy nodded. his mother gave him a kiss on the top of his head, before she left the room so jaemin could get changed into his new school uniform.

they had cheap cornflakes in tea cups for breakfast before they got into the small car, which had been part of their little family for more than fifteen years now. jaemin sang along the songs playing in the radio, unbothered and content, his anxiety from before practically non-existent.

“you are such a musical talent, nana, have so much potential ,” his mother commented, eyes trained on the road nontheless. “maybe you could join a music club or so, if they have something like that.”

jaemin immediately stopped singing and flushed. “no…,”

“i’m serious, jae. consider it at least.”

jaemin just shrugged and looked out of the window, slightly humming. and not even five minutes later, a giant building came into his view which he recognised as his new school. “look,” he said to his mother and pointed out of the window.

she parked the car a block away from the school and turned to her son. “do you want me to walk you to the school? – ow, don’t make that face, jae. i guess that’s a ‘no’?” she laughed. “take care of yourself. i’m sure you will find lots of new friends.”

jaemin muttered an ‘i hope’, kissed his mother on the cheek before he exited the car. he took a deep breath to  calm his racing pulse before he took slightly wobbly steps to the school.

 

///

 

“you’re new here, right?”

jaemin looked up from his timetable he had been looking at for a couple minutes and saw a boy his age shooting him a friendly smile.

“yeah, how did you know?” jaemin asked.

“oh, i noticed you in my maths class earlier and i figured i hadn’t seen you here before,” the boy explained. “i’m renjun, by the way.”

while the boy, renjun, spoke, jaemin noticed he had a light accent but he decided not to mention it .”nice to meet you, renjun. my name is na jaemin.”

“cool,” renjun said and smiled again, which jaemin reciprocated. “wanna come sit with my friends during lunch? you seem a bit lost, and i thought…-“

“sure, i’d love to,” jaemin interrupted him with a wide smile and stuffed his time table into his bag before he followed the other to the mess hall.

“and where are you from, jaemin?” renjun inquiered as they passed the lockers. jaemin watched a couple making out against one locker and he tore his gaze away from them to answer renjun’s question.

“i was actually born here in seoul, but my mum and i moved a lot due to her job, so i have attended a lot of schools,” he answered.

“well, then let’s hope you’ll stay here a bit longer,” renjun said and even though jaemin barely knew this boy, he felt warm at the comment.

“i must warn you, though,” renjun spoke up again. “my friends can be a little… _weird_.”

jaemin chuckled. “i don’t really think i’m in the position to be picky about my friends.”

renjun laughed at that, too, as they reached a table where a two other boys were seated. they looked a bit younger than him, but jaemin didn’t care.

“everyone, this is jaemin. he is new here,” renjun introduced him and jaemin could only wave and bow a little awkwardly. a few “hello”s followed and renjun gestured him to sit down. the other boy sat down on the seat in front of him.

“i’m jisung,” the blonde boy who sat next to jaemin said. “and next to me is chenle.”

“nice to meet you two. and thanks for letting me sit here, i hope i’m not too much of a burden,” jaemin replied.

but renjun quickly shook his head. “you’re not a burden, jaemin. i know what it’s like to be completely new, and we’re here for you now. – if you want to be our friend, that is.”

“of course, i would love to. thank you.”

“no problem. actually there are two more of us… do you guys know where jeno and hyuck are?” renjun asked the other two.

jisung nodded his head to a bigger table full of what seemed to be seniors. “i’ve seen them going over there.”

jaemin furrowed his eyebrows. “why are they sitting with the seniors?” he wanted to know.

“one of them, jeno, has an older brother who is a senior,” chenle explained. “and donghyuck, well, he’s dating one of them.”

jaemin nodded and made an ‘ah’ sound. “and why aren’t you sitting with them? sorry, if i’m being nosy.” he quickly added and hoped he didn’t sound like a weirdo.

“it’s fine,” renjun assured him and smiled gently. “it can get pretty loud over there, especially after summer break. so that’s why we’re not exactly fond of spending our lunch break with them. but don’t worry, you’ll meet all of them at some point.”

jaemin just nodded again and focused his attention on the distant group where two of them had started to do something what looked like a dance battle, if jaemin didn’t know better.

“that’s ten-hyung and johnny-hyung,” jisung explained.

“i can see why you don’t wanna sit with them now,” jaemin commented which made the three of them laugh in return.

they fell into a chatty conversation, and jaemin learned that both chenle and renjun where born in china but moved to south korea at a young age. he also learned that jisung and renjun were part of the school’s dance club. just as it was jaemin’s turn to talk about himself, a tall figure approached them.

the guy was tall with broad shoulders which filled out his uniform dress shirt just right. he had a pretty face with kind eyes and dimples that were visible even though he wasn’t even smiling.

“you must be new,” he said to jaemin and his voice was deep and had something calming to it.

“yes,” jaemin answered and made a move to stand up and greet him formally but the other one shushed him.

“you don’t need to be formal with me,” he said and his dimples were even more prominent now. “i’m jaehyun. and who are you?”

“m-my name is na jaemin,” the younger one answered, mentally cursing himself for stuttering. but he couldn’t help but feel intimidated by this jaehyun. “i h-hope it’s okay if i’m sitting here...”

“he’s our friend now, hyung,” renjun helped jaemin before he would make an even more embarassment of himself.

“well, what a pleasure to meet you, jaemin-ah. i just wanted to drop by and welcome you here at neo high school. taeyong’s actually student council president but he was too invested in the dance battle to realise we have someone new here sitting with our dongsaengs,” he said and winked at jaemin. “it’s nice to see you’ve already found yourself some friends, and i’m sure i speak for everyone of our group when i say, you’re now part of our group. you can always come to any of us with your problems and we’ll be there fo you.”

jaemin was taken aback by that, and he could only murmur a quiet “thank you”, bowing his head politely.

“oh and if you want, i could add you to our group chat,” jaehyun added.

jaemin nodded enthusiastically. “that would be amazing.” jaehyun handed him his phone so he could type in his number. he saved the contact and gave the phone back.

“anyways, i’ll see you around. my boyfriend’s already calling for me. bye, jaemin!” he waved at the three boys before he headed back to the big table and jaemin watched as he pecked a red-haired boy on the lips, before he slipped into the seat next to him.

“i’ll add you to our group chat as well, okay? the big chat has seventeen – no, eighteen members now. it could get a little messy, especially if you actually need help with something,” renjun offered chuckling and jaemin accepted.

they continued talking about everything and nothing and jaemin could not help the smile on his lips the whole time. they compared their timetables and jaemin was glad he got to share every class except for p.e. with at least one of his new friends.

it was the sixth time he was new at a school, but for the first time, he actually felt like he belonged there.

 

///

 

his mother picked him up after school and she excitedly wanted to know everything about jaemin’s first day of school.

“well, my teachers seem okay. and the food is actually edible,” jaemin answered, chuckling.

“and did you find a friend?”

“yeah, seventeen, to be exact.”

“come again?”

“well, they’re a big group with eighteen people, including me,” jaemin felt his heart making an excited jump as he said that. “and they’re all really good friends, like, i’ve only met four of them, but i’ve already been added to their group chat and everything. but they mostly hang around in smaller groups. and the groups change, like, all the time. so basically, everyone gets to hang out with everyone at some point.”

“that sounds pretty confusing,” his mother admitted.

“to be honest, i still haven’t completely understood their concept. but there’s a group with a few younger ones, and i’m part of that group, too,” jaemin said grinning. “mum, they’re all so nice to me!”

his mother beamed at him, obviously glad his first day of school hadn’t ended in a complete disaster; they had experienced it all. one time, it had gone so far that jaemin had been on his own his whole time of staying at the school, but luckily his period of stay had been rather short anyways.

when they arrived at their apartment, jaemin sprinted up the stairs and jumped onto the mattress which was currently serving as his bed and he pulled the phone out of his pocket, opening his messenger app.

 

** NEO CRACKHEAD TEENS **

[2:34 pm]

 _[jaehyunnie (_ _ノ_ _*_ _゜_ _▽_ _゜_ _*) has added you to the group chat.]_

 

 ** _jaehyunnie (_** ** _ノ_** ** _*_** ** _゜_** ** _▽_** ** _゜_** ** _*):_** everybody welcome jaemin!! o(^▽^)o

 

 ** _yongie (_** ** _✿_** **_♥_** ** _‿_** ** _♥_** ** _):_** welcome to this chat, jaemin!! nice to meet you! (°◡°♡).:｡

 

 ** _ten out of 10:_** omg will you ever stop using these cringy emojis istg

 ** _ten out of 10:_** also hi @ jaemin ig

 

 ** _jaehyunnie (_** ** _ノ_** ** _*_** ** _゜_** ** _▽_** ** _゜_** ** _*):_** no we won’t (∗´꒳ `) what are you gonna do about it

 

 ** _mork:_** ten stop being jealous challenge: failed

 

 ** _ten out of 10:_** pfft i’m not jealous

 ** _ten out of 10:_** i’d rather be single forever than have.. this

 

 ** _oh! joHNNY:_** wow ten got out on the wrong side of the bed today

 ** _oh! joHNNY:_** you’re just mad i won the dance battle against you

 

 ** _ten out of 10:_** nah lmao i let you win on purpose

 

 ** _mork:_** i ship it

 

 

jaemin smiled to himself before he quickly typed out a message.

 

 

** Neo Crackhead Teens **

[2:42 pm]

 ** _nana:_** hello everyone! i’m jaemin and i’ve transferred to this school

 ** _nana:_** thank you for adding me to this groupchat jaehyun-hyung i appreciate it a lot

 

 ** _jaehyunnie (_** ** _ノ_** ** _*_** ** _゜_** ** _▽_** ** _゜_** ** _*):_** oh my god, yongie he’s so adorable

 ** _jaehyunnie (_** ** _ノ_** ** _*_** ** _゜_** ** _▽_** ** _゜_** ** _*):_** can we pls adopt him ٩(^ᴗ^)۶

 

 ** _yongie (_** ** _✿_** **_♥_** ** _‿_** ** _♥_** ** _):_** yes please!! he’s so cute uwu

 

 ** _nana:_** i guess ill have to convince my mum first

 ** _nana:_** but you could buy me lunch tomorrow

 

 ** _yongie (_** ** _✿_** **_♥_** ** _‿_** ** _♥_** ** _):_** of course we will!!! right jaehyunnie?

 

 ** _jaehyunnie (_** ** _ノ_** ** _*_** ** _゜_** ** _▽_** ** _゜_** ** _*):_** you betcha! send us your timetable and we’ll pick you up before lunch ( ˘ ³˘)♥

 

 ** _mork:_** woah what just happened??

 ** _mork:_** they never bought me lunch??? and we’ve been friends for years???????

 

 ** _hyuck carey:_** im sure theres a reason for that

 

 ** _mork:_** aren’t you supposed to like

 ** _mork:_** defend me

 

 ** _ten out of 10_** : hyuck your new username is so lame i cant believe were fr*ends

 

 

jaemin quickly snapped a picture of his timetable and sent it to jaehyun. in response he got spammed with heart-eyes and kissy emojis and jaemin chuckled to himself before he sent a few heart emojis back.

he checked his other messages, mostly from his former friends, asking him about his first day of school. he half-heartedly replied to a few of them before he saw he had been added to another group chat.

 

 

 ** ✧･ﾟ ** ** : * ** ** ✧･ﾟ ** ** :*  ** **** ** dreamies ** **** ** *: ** ** ･ﾟ ** ** ✧ ** ** *: ** ** ･ﾟ ** ** ✧ **

[2:46pm]

_[renjunnie has added you to the groupchat.]_

 

 ** _renjunnie:_** hi jaemin

 

 ** _lele:_** hi there!!!

 

 ** _hyuck carey:_** i guess youre the same jaemin as the one in the gc?? anyways welcome to hell

 ** _hyuck carey:_** where everyone is gay and screams about anything

 ** _hyuck carey:_** you’re free to join btw

 ** _hyuck carey:_** oh and i’m donghyuck aka beyoncés and mariah carey’s love child

 

 ** _renjunnie:_** hyuck ur so embarassing omg

 ** _renjunnie:_** and u dont even kno if hes gay himself??

 ** _renjunnie:_** @ jaemin i apologise for his behaviour

 

[3:05 pm]

 ** _nana:_** don’t worry renjun! you did warn me about your friend after all

 ** _nana:_** and about the gay thing,,,,, i don’t really care about their gender so ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯

 

 ** _hyuck carey:_** my gaydar never disappoints

 

 ** _jisung pwwark:_** u havent even met him irl hyuck

 

 ** _hyuck carey:_** so?

 

 ** _jisung pwwark:_** what im tryna say it that it was just a lucky guess lmao youre not THAT good

 

 ** _hyuck carey:_** suddenly i cant read i dont know

 

 ** _nana:_** my mum just called me brb!!

 

 

jaemin got up from the mattress and went to the living room where his mother was currently struggling with a box full of dishes, cutlery and other kitchen utensils. he quickly rushed to her and put a supporting hand under the box so it wouldn’t fall over, destroying all the things contained inside.

he took the box from her arms and gently laid it on a chair in front of the island. “why do we even have that much things, we’re only two people living here,” he laughed.

his mother chuckled at that as well. “i don’t know, i just couldn’t separate myself from it. a few from them are from your grandma, by the way.”

jaemin went silent. his grandmother had passed away when his mother had barely had left for college. he himself had never met her, but his mother had had a very strong bond to her own mother which was why she kept almost everything her mother had possessed.

“ah, i’m sorry, i ruined the mood, didn’t i?” his mum said after a while and went through her hair. “i heard you laughing in your room. did you text your new friends?”

“yeah, i just read the messages in the group chat i mentioned,” jaemin told her proudly. “a few seniors are part of it, too, and they’re so funny. and two of them will buy lunch for me tomorrow.”

his mother’s gaze became sceptical. “they aren’t harassing you, are they?”

“no, no,” jaemin said and shook his head. “they are super cute. and they’re boyfriends so i doubt they’d... harass me or anything, to be honest.”

“well, i’d like to talk to them anyw-“

jaemin sighed and rolled his eyes. “god, you’re gonna embarrass me, mum,” he interrupted her.

“i don’t care, jae. maybe not right now, but at some point i want to talk to them. i don’t want you hanging around with the wrong people.”

the boy just huffed and decided it was useless to argue against his mother; she would win the argument anyways. “do you need my help with something else?” he asked instead.

“no, for now, i’m fine. but could you make dinner today?”

jaemin nodded before he fled to his room again, throwing himself onto his bed and opening the messenger app.

 

 

 ** ✧･ﾟ ** ** : * ** ** ✧･ﾟ ** ** :*  ** **** ** dreamies ** **** ** *: ** ** ･ﾟ ** ** ✧ ** ** *: ** ** ･ﾟ ** ** ✧ **

[3:08 pm]

 ** _renjunnie:_** lmao jaemin ur hilarious

 

 ** _jisung pwwark:_** i think he had to go for real

 

 ** _renjunnie:_** still funny

 

[3:17 pm]

 ** _nana:_** i’m back!!

 ** _nana:_** i didnt mean to be rude @ donghyuck oops

 

 ** _hyuck carey:_** sure jan

 

 ** _renjunnie:_** dont pay attention to him

 

 ** _hyuck carey:_** they ask you how you feel and you have to say you’re fine but you’re not really fine but-

 

 ** _jisung pwwark:_** cant u annoy mark or smth lol

 

 ** _nana:_** wait who’s mark?

 

 ** _hyuck carey:_** my boyfriend, my one and only, my love

 

 ** _nana:_** ah ok

 

 ** _renjun:_** askdjdjsdj i cant tell if jaemins bullying hyuck on purpose or if thats just the way he texts but i love it

 

 ** _nana:_** oh god, im so sorry!! it wasnt my intention to sound disinterested i swear

 ** _nana:_** donghyuck??

 ** _nana:_** he hates me now right???

 

 ** _renjunnie:_** nah he doesnt hes probably crying his heart out in marks pm

 

 ** _nana:_** not exactly helping renjun!!

 

 ** _renjunnie:_** look, we bully each other all the time and hes a big boy he can take it

 ** _renjunnie:_** im just confused why jeno didnt take this opportunity to bully him tbh

 

 ** _jisung pwwark:_**  he told me earlier he was practicing for the audition for this year’s musical

 ** _jisung pwwark:_** i guess thats why he hasnt been online for like decades

 

 ** _renjunnie:_** omg thanks for reminding me gtg

 

 ** _nana:_** what kind of musical?

 ** _nana:_** guys??

 ** _nana:_** oh okay bye then lol

 

///

 

the next morning, jaemin woke up in a better mood than the day before. he was excited to see renjun and everyone again and he couldn’t wait to have lunch with jaehyun and his boyfriend (jaemin still didn’t know his actual name). he had never had friends who were older than him, and from what he had read in the group chat, they were all really nice, and always happy to help.

his mother drove him to school again, dropped him off after he gave her a hug and a kiss and his heart made a happy jump as he saw renjun from afar. next to him was another boy with red hair, who was busy texting someone.

“morning, jaemin,” renjun greeted him. “this is hyuck,” he added and nudged the other boy so he would turn his attention the the other two.

donghyuck just nodded and went back to texting whoever. he let out a giggle at one of the messages he had received which made renjun roll his eyes. jaemin looked at renjun with a big eyes.

“don’t worry, nana, he isn’t mad. he’s,” he leaned over to look at donghyuck’s phone. “as i assumed, texting mark. he doesn’t hold grudges or anything.”

“and _he_ can hear you, you know?” donghyuck mumbled.

“did you hear that, jaemin?” renjun asked. “i just had the impression somebody had been talking.”

jaemin just laughed, not sure if he should answer the question. “are you excited for sociology class?” he asked to change the topic.

“oh my god, no, it’s a miracle i’m actually here today and not skipping,” donghyuck said and finally put his phone away.

“for real? well, i like the subject, maybe we could, uh, sit next to each other? so i could help you if you want,” jaemin asked carefully and donghyuck’s face lit up. he threw an arm around jaemin’s shoulder and said, “suddenly i have a new best friend. huang renjun who? i only know na jaemin.”

jaemin laughed and leaned onto donghyuck’s shoulder while renjun pretended to have been shot in his chest.

after sociology, jaemin had p.e. class where he didn’t know anyone else yet. while changing into his clothes, him another boy who had also transferred started talking and they promised each other they would team up if the teacher told them to find a partner to work with.

after the teacher introduced himself and pointed out the safety instructions, they started playing basketball, and since they were a rather big class, some of them had to wait for their turn on the bench and could simply watch the others.

jaemin belonged to one of them (unfortunately his new friend was currently playing), so he awkwardly sat on his own and more or less watched the game unfold. after a while, his gaze fell onto a boy who had been scoring goals for his team non-stop for the past five minutes. his team chanted what jaemin guessed was his name, but he couldn’t make it out. the boy grinned at that and jaemin was positive he had been blessed by an ethereal being; his smile was absolutely blinding, making jaemin forget everything around him (as stupid as it sounded, and it made him cringe inwardly).

that was until the ball landed right in front of his feet and he shrieked high-pitched, a few players laughing at him. his newly found friend, jeongin was his name, quickly grabbed the ball and grinned at the still shocked jaemin, before the game continued.

it was safe to say that jaemin had a hard time concentrating with the other boy around. it was as if his mere presence was enough to catch jaemin off-guard and made him miss passes often enough, which earned him a few glares from his team members. luckily, the coach blamed it on him being new and nervous and jaemin promised he would do better the next time.

when the class was finished, jaemin rushed into the cabin to avoid possibly embarrassing himself in front of the others and changed into his uniform without losing a word to anyone. he had almost forgotten about his lunch date with jaehyun if it hadn’t been for a message of the older boy, reminding him he was waiting outside.

“hello, hyung, nice to see you again,” jaemin greeted him, surprised when jaehyun pulled him into an embrace.

“you too,” jaehyun answered before he gestured to the boy next to him, who was standing next to the two of them, his hands fiddling with the hem of his shirt. he kind of looked out of place with his flaming red hair and dangling ear piercings. “this my other half, taeyong.”

“nice to finally meet you as well, taeyong-hyung,” jaemin said to the red-haired and bowed.

“i was gonna say the same,” taeyong said with a small smile. “you know, jaehyun couldn’t stop talking about you the whole afternoon.”

“i, uh, i don’t know what to say,” jaemin admitted shyly and looked at jaehyun for help.

“yongie, stop making him flustered,” jaehyun protested promptly and hit taeyong lightly on his arm. “now, let’s go, shall we? i heard they served pancakes today.”

jaehyun ended up being right, and the three of them had their lunch on a table situated a bit far from the rest, jaehyung saying he didn’t want to be disturbed while they were gonna chat (jaemin swallowed thickly at the thought of jaehyun possibly interrogating him about god knows what).

“so, jaemin, how was your second day at our school? did you meet anyone new?” taeyong asked, as soon as jaehyun was busy chewing on his pancakes, unable to ask jaemin about his zodiac sign or blood type or other pointless stuff (in the younger’s opinion).

jaemin’s thoughts immediately went to the boy in his p.e. class. he couldn’t help the blush which spread out over his cheeks and he slightly choked on his pancake. this caught the seniors’ attention and they looked at jaemin expectantly, waiting for him to elaborate.

“well, i didn’t really meet him. i just thought he looked... good,” jaemin confessed and when they didn’t say anything, he continued. “he’s tall and has broad shoulders. i’m sure he even has a six-pack. – but i don’t care about that. i swear, when he smiles, it’s blinding? like, his eyes almost disappear and his laugh is so cute, i felt like dying in class,” jaemin said before he could stop himself.

the youngest didn’t miss the way the couple looked at each other. “what’s wrong?” he asked.

taeyong pulled out his phone, scrolled for a while, before he showed jaemin a picture. it was a selfie of him and the boy from p.e., both of their smiles outshining the sun, and jaemin blushed again. “that’s him,” he muttered, as if it hadn’t been obvious already.

“his name is jeno, and he’s, um, taeyong’s brother,” jaehyun explained. “he’s been with us seniors the whole time though, so i’m not that surprised you haven’t met him yet.”

jaemin’s blood froze in his veins. “i, i’m sorry, taeyong-hyung, i had no idea he was your brother and-“

“hey, you don’t need to apologise, nana,” taeyong chuckled. “that loser has been alone for a long time anyways, and i’m sure it would do him good to have someone for once.”

jaemin just made ‘oh’, fighting the blush on his cheeks and neck, but failing. jaehyun cooed at him, dimples present as ever and he winked at the younger.

 

///

 

“it was so nice talking you two,” jaemin said as lunch break neared its end.

they had chatted the whole time while eating their pancakes; jaemin kept asking them things about jeno the couple had straight out laughed at him as jaemin almost swooned over photos of jeno during summer when he had white hair.

afterwards, taeyong had bought jaemin a snack bar from the brand new vending machine next to the lockers. jaemin had insisted that taeyong did _not_ have to do that but he quickly found out that taeyong did have the attitude of a mother if he wanted to, so jaemin was more or less forced to accept the present. no surprise taeyong was the student council president.

“it really was nice,” jaehyun agreed. “we should definitely meet up again. – not just the three of us, though. the whole group.”

“good idea. how about we ask everyone later in the chat. and i’ll ask chenle when he has his place to himself later,” taeyong added.

jaemin furrowed his eyebrows at that. “why ask chenle?”

“can you believe he has an own house where simply he and his mother live in? that kid is _loaded_. that’s why we mostly use his house for parties,” jaehyun explained to the new student.

“oh, i see. well, i could ask him right now. we have the next class together,” the younger offered. “that way you can focus on, i don’t know, other organisational stuff.”

the seniors agreed and bid their goodbyes, leaving jaemin to go to the class room on his own. when he reached the room, he saw chenle already waiting for him and he waved energetically at jaemin as he saw him.

“hey, nana,” the younger chirped happily. “how was p.e.?”

jaemin gulped. “it was... nice,” he answered. he preferred not to talk about jeno. not yet, at least.

“nice to hear!” chenle answered, not even bothered by jaemin’s half-hearted reply.

“uh, taeyong and jaehyun were planning on having a party soon? like, with all of _us_ ,” jaemin started and his stomach still flipped a little bit at the thought of him having a group he belonged to. “and they were wondering when your house was free?”

“my mother is gonna be out of town in two weeks, i just gotta convince her not to hire a nanny for me so we can have the house to ourselves,” chenle answered.

jaemin nodded and made a mental note to text jaehyun or taeyong later. “i actually have another question, please don’t laugh at me. but do you guys, uh, drink at these parties?”

despite jaemin’s request, chenle let out a quick giggle. “no we don’t. the hyungs don’t want us to drink since we’re still underage, you know? they do drink at their own parties, though, if you want to drink.”

jaemin quickly shook his head. “no, it’s fine, i’m actually glad they watch out for us. like, my mum doesn’t want me even near alcohol, and i doubt she would have let me go if they actually gave us alcohol.”

before chenle could say something, the teacher arrived at the room and immediately started involving them in a conversation about something both jaemin and chenle were nothing but clueless about.

 

///

 

a couple days later, on friday, jeno had apparently decided to hang out with the people his age again, and when jaemin saw him sitting between chenle and jisung, his cheeks puffed up as he was munching on fries, he almost dropped his tablet. he cursed himself under his breath before he put on a probably too forced smile and went over to the table.

“hi guys!” he greeted them, careful not to meet jeno’s eyes as he sat down across from him.

“you’re jaemin, right?” jeno asked and jaemin almost choked at the sound of his voice.

that’s when jaemin realised that they still hadn’t properly met, but he still felt like he knew so much about the other boy. admittedly, he might have made jaehyun and taeyong sit with him during lunch again, but they hadn’t seemed to mind so he didn’t feel too bad.

“yeah, that’s me. you must be jeno then,” jaemin answered.

jeno’s face lit up. “oh, i’ve already heard a lot about you,” he exclaimed.

“only good things, i hope.” jaemin allowed himself to smile a bit as he drank out of his water bottle.

“i mean, i’ve been sitting with jaehyun-hyung and taeyong-hyung and they have been _gushing_ about you, you know? they were also the ones who made me sit here today, you know, to get to know you personally,” jeno told him and jaemin found it hard not to get lost in his eyes. “and i must say, so far i am not disappointed.”

jaemin choked on his own spit and went bright red. five pairs of eyes looked at him as he beat on his own chest, trying to get the hiccups under control. “gosh, i-i’m sorry, gu-guys,” he pressed out. he didn’t miss the way renjun looked at him with a mixed expression but he decided to ignore it.

“hang on, aren’t you in my p.e. class? the boy who was all over the place last time?” jeno suddenly asked.

great, jaemin thought to himself bitterly. “yeah, i am, i guess. or that sounds like me at least,” he tried to chuckle, but it sounded rather as if he was in pain.

“i gotta thank you for making my team win, man. i don’t know if we would have won if it wasn’t for you,” jeno said and laughed.

if jaemin had thought it was impossible for him to blush even more, he would have been corrected by now as he became even more red, and his stupid heart wouldn’t stop beating so fast every time jeno only did as much as open his mouth. “well, i’m sure you would have won anyways. you were, like, so good! not that the rest of your team wasn’t, but you were extraordinarily good and not that i’ve been paying attention to you only, i watched the game very objectively, you know? but still you really stood out and i was very impressed to be honest. so yeah, you were, um, really the mvp in my opinion.”

jaemin just wanted to hit himself over and over. preferably with a hammer. it was as if his mouth was just acting on its own, not listening to his brain, telling it to shut up and stop embarrassing himself. he couldn’t say why all this was happening, apart from maybe the fact that jeno was even more handsome up-close, but he knew he needed to get it together as soon as possible.

the awkward silence following jaemin’s outburst was cut short by renjun quickly changing the topic as he asked who was thinking of coming to the party at chenle’s.

everyone except for jaemin started talking about how excited they were for the party and how they couldn’t wait to see everyone again. renjun’s gaze was still fixed on jaemin and the latter was sure they were gonna talk about this sooner or later.

right now, though, jaemin tried not to die from embarrassment. this was his first official encounter with jeno and he had to go and screw it up like this. he didn’t know if he was grateful or angry that jaehyun and taeyong had decided to send jeno over. they could have at least warned him, if you asked jaemin. but he couldn’t really be mad at his hyungs; they had been nothing but nice, sure, they could get pretty clingy at times, but even during these two shared lunch breaks, the three of them had become good friends.

“are you coming, too, nana?” chenle wanted to know as he shook jaemin out of his thoughts.

“yeah, i am. i already talked about it with my mother and she said yes. though she still wants to talk to jaehyun-hyung _and_ to your mother, chenle. which is, like, super embarrassing because i am not five anymore? but whatever,” jaemin huffed.

the rest chuckled and jisung talked about how his parents used to be like that at first, too, but they soon realised that he was surrounded by nothing but good friends. jaemin just shrugged and chenle handed him a slip of paper with his telephone number.

jaemin thanked him and promised him to get his mother call this number as soon as possible.

as soon as their last period ended, renjun made sure jaemin couldn’t escape from him by grabbing by his arm. they went outside to walk home together. it had taken them several days to realise they both lived quite close to each other, so they had both started accompanying each other on their walk home. that way, his mother didn’t have to stress herself to pick up on time.

“jaemin, do you have a crush on jeno?” renjun asked straightforward and jaemin couldn’t help his cheeks turning red.

“look, renjun, i know ‘bros before hoes’ and all that, and i’m really sorry that i-“ jaemin started but he got interrupted by renjun suddenly stopping in tracks.

“why are you apologising?” he asked.

“aren’t you, i don’t know, mad?” jaemin answered with another question to which renjun laughed, jaemin nervously joining him. “you aren’t?”

they resumed walking and renjun spoke up again. “of course i’m not mad, why would i be? it’s not like you committed a crime or anything. by the way, you made it pretty obvious earlier during lunch. you’re lucky jeno is an idiot.”

jaemin giggled at that, feeling at ease now, knowing he didn’t have to fear losing a friend over a stupid crush. “yeah, i know, he can dumb sometimes.” to the other’s questioning look, he added, “taeyong-hyung and jaehyun-hyung told me a lot about him. – not to be a creep.”

“i’m kind of insulted you didn’t come to me first, if i’m being honest. but i forgive you anyways, if you promise to come to me from now on.”

“alright, deal,” jaemin agreed with a smile. “but please don’t tell anyone else. i don’t want the rest to know.”

“don’t worry, nana, your secret is safe with me,” renjun promised. “oh and hyuck wasn’t lying when he said we were all gay, you know?”

unsure what to answer, jaemin just nodded awkwardly and decided he found the ground interesting all of a sudden. they continued walking in silence until renjun started talking about his maths teacher, whom he despised with a passion, and jaemin joined in, insisting that his maths teacher was even worse.

 

///

 

 ** ✧･ﾟ ** ** : * ** ** ✧･ﾟ ** ** :*  ** **** ** dreamies ** **** ** *: ** ** ･ﾟ ** ** ✧ ** ** *: ** ** ･ﾟ ** ** ✧ **

[4:27 pm]

 ** _hyuck carey:_** gays i have a problem

 

 ** _renjunnie:_** k

 

 ** _jeYES:_** k

 

 ** _jisung pwwark:_** k

 

 ** _hyuck carey:_** the support is incredible

 ** _hyuck carey:_** im so glad to have friends who i can count on to always have my back and help me with my problems

 

 ** _renjunnie:_** k

 

 ** _jisung pwwark:_** k

 

 ** _hyuck carey:_** omg

 

 ** _nana:_** what’s your problem hyuck?

 

 ** _hyuck carey:_** thank gOD

 

 ** _renjunnie:_** askdjdsidj traitor

 

 ** _hyuck carey:_** im just gonna ignore that

 ** _hyuck carey:_** i don’t have anything to wear yall????

 ** _hyuck carey:_** like no clothes i could possibly wear in public??

 

 ** _jeYES:_** why do you even bother tho

 ** _jeYES:_** like you already have a bf so??

 

 ** _hyuck carey:_** that doesnt mean i can walk around looking like a homeless person

 

 ** _renjunnie:_** isnt that what u look like all the time

 

 ** _jisung pwwark:_** since mark is actually dating _you_ his standards must be very low

 ** _jisung pwwark:_** so no need to worry hyuckie <3

 

 ** _hyuck carey:_** will you ever let me live istg

 

 ** _nana:_** if you want, you can pm me and i’ll help you finding something to wear

 

 ** _hyuck carey:_** alrighty will do!

 

 ** _jisung pwwark:_** you both do realise that we still got like 4 hours before we meet up at chenle’s right

 

 ** _lele:_** the party starts in half an hour jisung

 

 ** _jisung pwwark:_** shit gtg

 

 

while jaemin was helping donghyuck through his crisis of having ‘nothing to wear’, he realised he was still in pyjamas and with bed hair even though it was already noon. he left on donghyuck on read – the boy would survive, he had _so_ many clothes in his wardrobe that he could go 3 weeks without doing the laundry – and took a quick shower.

he decided he didn’t need to dress extraordinarily for the evening and just threw on a white slightly oversized hoodie with red font in the front and a pair of loose jeans. he checked his phone and was surprised donghyuck hadn’t spammed their private chat with tons of messages but he would be lying if he said he wasn’t glad about it.

it would take him good fifteen minutes to cycle to chenle’s house, which meant he had less than five minutes to pack his bag with things he’d need for the night. he mentally cursed himself for not having packed his stuff earlier and he was sure he would forgot something, but he didn’t have the time to double-check because he didn’t want to be late for the party.

he quickly said goodbye to his mother who told him to take care of himself and insisted on him giving her a kiss. the boy rolled his eyes before he pecked her on the cheek. afterwards, he sprinted through the hallway, put on his converses before stepping outside and jumping on his bike.

ten minutes later, he arrived at chenle’s house – no, mansion – and realised he was in fact the first guest.

“hi,” jaemin greeted him, slightly out of breath.

“hi, you too,” answered chenle with a grin.

the chinese boy told him to enter the house after he had leaned his bike on the façade of the house. jaemin took off his shoes and when he went inside, he could not help but gape in awe. the hallway’s ceiling was high, a fancy-looking chandelier hanging at the end of the corridor, and at the walls stood multiple pieces of antique furniture, making jaemin feel uncomfortable with his simple hoodie and jeans.

chenle seemed to notice the older’s discomfort, it was probably not the first time a guest reacted like this, and he dragged jaemin to the living room. a couple of glasses as well as four carafes of water and three bottles of coke had been placed onto the coffee table in front of the leather sofa.

“do you want something?” chenle asked and pointed at said coffee table.

“a coke would be amazing, thank you.”

it took the rest almost fourty minutes to arrive, with jisung being the last. jaemin was also sure, he had never seen a couple of the guests but they all seemed to know him so jaemin just shrugged and let himself be pulled into a bone-crushing hug by a guy who introduced himself as yukhei “or lucas, if you’re having troubles pronouncing my chinese name, nana-bro”.

and when jeno entered the living room, jaemin suddenly started sweating. as the older noticed him, he broke out into a smile and jaemin could only do as much as sigh at the sight. jeno hugged him as if he hadn’t seen him for a week and jaemin tried not get lost in the feeling of his face being pressed into jeno’s broad chest.

they separated and jeno breathed a “hello, nana”, his eyes almost disappearing because of his wide smile.

jaemin smiled back before their attention was stolen by chenle’s high-pitched shriek as he ran towards an older boy jaemin didn’t know yet and hugged him tightly.

“taeil-hyung, it’s been so long,” dongyoung joined chenle’s joy as he threw an arm around taeil’s shoulder. “college keeping you busy, huh?” taeil just groaned, and dongyoung laughed in return.

the eighteen of them decided on watching a movie and they all took a seat around the coffee table to be able to see the huge flat screen tv. a few had to sit in front of the couch but chenle brought enough pillows and blankets to make it comfortable enough.

jaehyun and dongyoung declared themselves responsible for making popcorn, and they escaped from the chaos in the living room; renjun and jeno fighting for the best place on the couch, yuta keeping on pestering poor sicheng who just wanted to watch the movie in peace without having someone else draped over his lap. and on top of the loudness that seemed to accompany them wherever they went, yukhei was spelling out his netflix password, almost shouting at the clueless jungwoo who just had happened to be the closest to the tv remote.

when the two returned with the warm popcorn, frozen had just started playing. they wordlessly handed the bowls to two others, before jaehyun made himself comfortable in taeyong’s lap and dongyoung slipped in next to jungwoo.

jaemin himself was squished between donghyuck, who couldn’t keep his hands to himself and kept touching mark, and jeno who had casually wrapped an arm around jaemin’s shoulders, making it incredibly hard for the latter to concentrate on the film playing in front of him.

halfway through, jaemin felt jeno’s hand playing with the hood of his pullover occasionally touching his soft skin and jaemin suppressed a shudder. he turned to the older to ask him what he was doing when he realised jeno had been watching him for quite some time.

jaemin coughed before he stood up, saying he’d refill the bowls of popcorn. in the kitchen, he spent a couple minutes calming down his heartbeat, asking himself why on earth jeno had been so touchy the whole time. he almost laughed out loud as he thought of the possibility of jeno maybe liking him back. the beeping microwave pulled him back into reality and he filled the bowls before going back into the living room.

when jaemin reclaimed his seat next to jeno, he noticed a slight tension between them. he also noticed how jeno kept his hands to himself and it was an understatement to say that jaemin was sad about it.

the film ended and they called a pee break, and at the same time jaehyun and taeyong went into the kitchen, saying they’d prepare dinner. jaemin decided to follow them, as he didn’t want to confront jeno, or worse, renjun who had undoubtedly seen everything.

however, luck wasn’t on jaemin’s side, and jeno joined them in the kitchen shortly after. “hey, jaemin, can we talk?”

“uh, sure,” replied the younger as he poured water into a pot so he could make ramen.

“alone,” jeno added almost sternly.

jaemin threw a glance to the two oldest and they regarded him with an expression that told him he’d better talk to jeno or they’d drag him there themselves.

jaemin huffed, “fine” and he wiped his hands on a towel before he followed jeno quietly.

“is something wrong? did i do something that made you uncomfortable?” jeno asked after they had entered a room which looked like a spare bedroom.

“no, y-you didn’t,” jaemin stammered and stared at the ground to avoid looking into jeno’s eyes.

“are you sure? i swear, i won’t be mad if you told me i make a mistake,” jeno insisted. “you seemed off after... during the movie.”

“what do you mean, _i_ seemed off? you were the one who was acting weird,” jaemin exclaimed with a slightly raised voice, which caught jeno off-guard.

“so you didn’t me being, i don’t know, clingy?”

“nah, not at all,” reassured the younger with a smile. “i, i enjoyed it, to be honest.”

“oh thank god. i was so worried we’d forever be awkward now,” jeno admitted with a laugh before he opened his arms and jaemin took a step forward to hug him tightly.

“oh my god, get a room,” donghyuck’s voice suddenly interrupted the moment and they both flinched.

jeno frowned at the red-haired. “we are literally in a separate room, hyuck,” he informed him. “a room that you decided to burst in for no reason, by the way.”

“to my defense, jaehyun-hyung told me to look for you two, if you were fighting or something,” said donghyuck. “how was i supposed to know you were having a gay moment?”

jaemin choked on air. “oh my god, we weren’t having a ‘gay moment’. we’re just friends, right jeno?” he directed at jeno before he could think about what he had just said.

jeno’s expression faltered for a split second before he smiled at the two of them. “that’s right. just friends.”

 

///

 

“you did what?” renjun yelled and jaemin quickly shushed him.

they were sitting on one of the house’s bathrooms, where jaemin had dragged renjun to after dinner because he couldn’t stand the uneasy feeling eating up from inside anymore. jaemin didn’t know how thin the walls were, but he didn’t wanna risk anyone eavesdropping.

“you friendzoned him?” renjun asked again, still too loud for jaemin’s liking.

“i didn’t know what to do, okay?” jaemin defended himself and buried his face in his hands, groaning, as he sat on the closed toilet and he was sure this was his lowest moment so far.

“tell me what happened, again.”

jaemin took a shaky breath. “well, he, uh, had his arm around me during the movie. and then i panicked and got up and it may have looked like i didn’t want him to do that? like when i returned, he was really awkward and all. afterwards, he asked me if he had done something wrong and i told him everything was fine. and as he were hugging, hyuck came in and accused us of having a gay moment, and i panicked again and said jeno and i were just friends,” he quickly recited the events of earlier.

“it looks like an evening full of gay panics for you,” renjun laughed but jaemin narrowed his eyes at him and the latter quickly stopped laughing. “but it looks like you two fit together very well; you’re both complete idiots.”

“you forgot the part where he thinks i see him simply as a friend,” jaemin whined again and ran his fingers through his hair as he let out a stressed huff. he had originally thought this get-together would be all fun and joy, but here he was, literally sitting on the toilet and regretting every decision he had made in the past three hours.

“look, there’s nothing you can do right now to change what already happened,” renjun started. “the only thing you can do is to make clear that he is anything but a friend for you.”

“and how am i supposed to do that?”

“i don’t know, confess to him?”

“you’re officially insane, renjun. there is _no_ way i’m gonna confess to him now or anytime in the future,” jaemin immediately said, not needing any time to think about it.

“how do you plan to woo him if you don’t wanna confess? that seems impossible to me.”

“what – i’m not trying to woo him,” jaemin defended himself but renjun gave him a look. “listen, there’s no signs he is interested in me, so why should i risk our friendship by confessing to him? maybe it’s the best if we’re just friends.”

“okay, hold on. jeno likes you. a lot, okay? i don’t know how but you managed to become his number one in, like, two weeks but he trusts you very much and i’m sure that if you confess to him and he ends up not liking you back – what i doubt – it wouldn’t harm your friendship.” renjun took a deep breath before he continued. “i like you, too, you know? – not like _that_ but still, you’re a very good friend to me and i hate seeing you like this. so you either go confess to him right now or just stop moping around like you have for the past ten minutes.”

jaemin decided to ignore the part about him being mopey and went to hug renjun (as good as he could with renjun still sitting on the edge of bath tub). “i like you, too, or something, whatever,” he mumbled into the fabric of the other’s shirt.

“now let’s go back downstairs before hyuck starts spreading rumours,” renjun suggested as he had freed himself from jaemin’s hug.

while they made their way down to the living room, they could hear donghyuck’s voice singing to a twice song. they must have started singing karaoke while the two of them had been busy.

the song ended just after the two entered, but they still got to witness donghyuck waving and blowing kisses at the “audience” before he turned to the screen, waiting for the results.

jaemin guessed the score was pretty high but the singer still didn’t seem too happy and he made a face as he saw taeil and dongyoung high-five each other. the only one who didn’t laugh at donghyuck was mark who was still cheering for his boyfriend.

“this is why you should never challenge _the_ moon taeil when it comes to karaoke, hyuckie,” jaehyun chuckled as the younger slumped down, his body language screaming ‘defeated’.

“hey, jaemin, do you wanna try?” dongyoung suddenly asked and all heads turned to his direction where he was still standing in the door frame.

“i, what? no, i’m not that good, believe me,” he said hastily and rubbed the back of his neck.

“aw, come on,” dongyoung pouted. “we’ve never heard you sing. i’m sure it’s not bad.”

jaemin sighed and nodded. “fine, but i’d rather do a rap song, though.”

he selected a song which had been played on the radio basically non-stop for a whole week now and guided the microphone to his mouth. it had been a while since he had done something like this but he was too stubborn and proud to be a coward now.

he didn’t see the others because he had to focus on the lyrics on the screen but he assumed their silence could only mean they didn’t really despise it. his score turned out to be way lower than donghyuck’s, and at this point he didn’t even want to know taeil’s score, but he was still a little bit impressed with himself since the results weren’t too bad.

“well done, nana. i’m impressed,” taeyong said and jaemin shooted a shy smile in his direction, mumbling a “thank you”.

“oh my god, i just had an idea, guys,” donghyuck suddenly said. “we still need someone for our musical right? you know, since _someone_ decided to leave us.”

“hyuck, how often do i have to tell you that i did _not_ decide to leave you? i am just too old to continue being part of the musical group,” mark sighed, and his tone told jaemin that this wasn’t the first time the two were having this conversation.

“are you trying to say what i’m thinking you’re trying to say?” renjun asked before the bickering would get out of control. and after donghyuck excitedly nodded, confirming his assumption, the chinese boy turned to jaemin. “nana, would you like to be a part of our musical?”

“you’d need to decide quickly, though, because the applications end on coming monday,” jisung added.

“i... feel like this is our cue to leave,” dongyoung said and got up, dragging jungwoo, who had been leaning his head on the older’s shoulder, up with him. “let’s go everyone.”

and one by one, the hyungs cleared the living room, leaving the youngest on their own. they realised too late that dongyoung had taken all the snacks, but they had other things they had to focus on now.

“so, what do you say?” renjun asked again, as jaemin had been silent for quite a while now.

“i am over-whelmed, you guys. i honestly don’t know what to say,” the boy answered truthfully.

“just say you’re in, then,” hyuck retorted.

“but won’t i have to audition first? and what if i don’t pass the auditions?” jaemin insisted. “i’d really love to join, but i don’t think i’m that good.”

“look, we can arrange the cast on our own. we basically manage the whole musical, you know? and if we decide that we want you, then that’s how it is. also, did you forget that taeyong said you were good? he barely ever does that,” renjun snapped, and to the untrained ear, he’d sound mad, but they all knew that’s how always talked.

“i, i guess that means i’m in?” jaemin said with a shrug which was quickly followed by chenle leaving out a high-pitched scream and hugging him tightly. a few hands patted his shoulders but jaemin realised with a frown that jeno hadn’t even gotten up from his seat to gratulate him. when he caught the other’s gaze, jeno smiled a smile the barely reached his eyes and gave a thumbs up. jaemin shrugged off the uneasy feeling and let himself be pulled into another hug by chenle.

“ok, so who wants to tell him about the plot? jeno?” renjun asked after they had managed to tear chenle off of the startled jaemin.

“ugh, you know i’m not good at telling stories,” jeno objected.

donghyuck rolled his eyes. “you won a reading contest last year,” he deadpanned.

“fine,” the older growled. “it’s a love story.”

“come on, jeno, quit being a baby,” renjun sighed. “what even is your problem?”

“i don’t have a problem, renjun. do _you_ have a problem?” jeno asked in return.

jisung, who seemed to have had enough of his hyungs fighting, cleared his throat before he started talking. “anyways, the story is not exactly a love story. it’s more like a couple teenage boys, that’s us, crushing on their teacher. and we keep trying to win her ‘love’ by making her gifts and all. for example at one scene... what was it? we build cars out of cardboard for her? but at the end, it’s revealed that she is actually already married and they have baby.” jisung chuckled. “i guess it’s kinda emo. but we wrote the script and the songs ourselves, so...”

“wait, you did everything yourselves? wow that is really cool,” jaemin admitted. “and what is the musical called?”

silence followed the question.

donghyuck was the first one to speak up again, “do we seriously not have a title? we’re so professional.”

“i guess the title is the least important thing,” jaemin said, slightly giggling. “i’m sure we’ll figure something out on our way.”

renjun nodded. “good idea, nana,” he agreed before he switched the topic. “by the way, where did the hyungs go? are they drinking again?”

“they are drinking, they definitely are drinking,” jisung said as he was checking the messages on his phone. “they didn’t write embarrassing stuff into our group chat, though, yet.”

“does this always happen?” jaemin wanted to know. “like, do they always end up doing their own party?”

“pretty much, yeah,” chenle confirmed with a nod. “but it’s funny watching them do weird things while we’re completely sober, you know?” he giggled.

jeno suddenly yelped and jumped from his seat before he sat down again. “they just send a video into the chat.“

almost immediately, they assembled around jeno to watch the video on his phone. jaemin stood behind jeno and someone – it must have been renjun, because who else liked watching jaemin suffer like he did – pressed him forwards so his chin was basically resting on top of jeno’s shoulders. he hoped he only imagined the way jeno tensed for a second before he played the video.

the video showed a pretty drunk mark, with both of his arms around sicheng and yuta, while he was showering them with all kinds of compliments, saying how cute and handsome they were.

all eyes were suddenly on donghyuck who raised his hands to defend himself. “that guy has no alcohol tolerance. i told him to stay away from alcohol today but it looks like he knew better,” he said and shrugged.

another video followed shortly. it was mark again but this time he was massaging taeyong’s hand, saying he’d need to relax from his duties as student council president. it was safe to say that mark was pretty wasted and jaemin wondered what exactly they had been drinking.

then, a series of photos were sent into the chat. they quickly realised it was the same photo, just from different angles; apparently ten had passed out in johnny’s lap who was stroking the smaller boy’s hair affectionately.

a few blurry selfies followed and renjun saved all of them on his phone, probably to use it for blackmailing.

 

///

 

despite the continuous laughs and shouts coming from the room the elders had occupied, it was not hard for the youngest to fall asleep. the six of them had propped up a few mattresses in chenle’s huge room and within a few minutes, they were all asleep. well, for most of them at least.

jaemin had done a great job at spilling orange juice all over his (white) pullover, staining the entire front side. chenle had offered to wash it the next day, but now jaemin was forced to sleep in his pyjamas which consisted of shorts and a tank top, and chenle’s room was _cold_. earlier, they had tried turning off the air-con, but it had turned out they were all incapable of dealing with this kind of high technology. ergo, jaemin would most likely be an ice-block the next morning.

he hadn’t been aware that he had made noises, successfully blocking out the fact that his teeth were clattering, when jeno, who had his bed right next to him, spoke up in a hushed whisper. “are you cold, nana?”

“y-yes, a lit-little bit,” jaemin stammered back, shuddering as another whiff of cold air hit his back and shoulders.

the other didn’t respond, but jaemin felt and heard him shuffling next to him. the room was too dark to actually see something. suddenly, something was thrown onto the top of his blanket. a shaking hand of jaemin’s went up from under his blanket, surprised as he felt the soft fabric of, what he guessed was, jeno’s pullover.

“what’s this?” he asked unnecessarily.

“you’ll freeze to death,” jeno stated matter-of-factly. “so you can have my hoodie.”

“but then _you_ will freeze to death, jeno,” jaemin complained.

“suddenly i’m already asleep, i can’t hear you anymore,” jeno said and turned around.

jaemin huffed and rolled his eyes, but he couldn’t hide the little smile that lifted the corners of his mouth. he slipped on the pullover and in a second, his senses were flooded with _jeno_. it was warm and jaemin guessed it was the hideous red, yellow and blue-coloured sweater jeno had been wearing all day.

he pulled the fabric over his nose and he blushed as he smelled something that was uniquely jeno and yes, he was definitely grinning now.

he didn’t know what was wrong with him. he was sniffling his best friend’s clothes like a creep but at the same time he just couldn’t get enough. he pulled himself together before someone would catch him, and he laid down on the bed, suddenly being able to fall asleep.

the next morning, jaemin was woken up by chenle’s dolphin-like laugh. his first thought was to scold the younger for being careless, but as soon as his eyes had gotten used to the brightness, he saw not only chenle but also jeno hovering over the chinese’s phone and grinning at whatever he was seeing. it was as if jaemin had never been angry in the first place.

“what’s up?” he rasped, wincing at how raw his voice sounded, and he sat up.

“morning, sleepy head,” renjun said from the other side of jaemin’s bed. “you’re finally up.”

looking around the room, he realised he was indeed the last one to wake up but he just shrugged. at least the rest didn’t have to suffer from the cold like he had to.

“do you remember when we said it was funny seeing the hyungs get wasted? well, it’s even funnier watching them regret everything the next morning,” chenle laughed before he looked back on his phone.

jaemin turned around, looking for his phone, when his gaze met renjun’s. the other eyed him and when his look fell onto jeno’s sweater jaemin was wearing, he furrowed his eyebrows but left it uncommented. however, jaemin was scared enough of renjun that he was sure renjun would talk to him about it sooner or later.

he located his phone, unlocked it and opened the messenger app.

 

 

** Neo Crackhead Teens **

[4:07 am]

 ** _ten out of 10:_** johnny is snoring so loudly omg

 ** _ten out of 10:_** why is no one replying

 ** _ten out of 10:_** ah right you’re asleep smh losers

 ** _ten out of 10:_** i just saw the photos and i’ll kill everyone in this chat and then myself

 

[6:59 am]

 ** _mork:_** my head hurts so much i want to die

 ** _mork:_** come on hyuckie say it

 

 ** _hyuck carey:_** i told you so

 

 ** _mork:_** idk if im feeling better or worse tbh

 

 ** _hyuck carey:_** go to sleep again markie <3

 ** _hyuck carey:_** ill get you breakfast later ok?

 

 ** _mork:_** i love you so much

 

 ** _hyuck carey:_** i love you even more baby

 

[8:39 am]

 ** _XUXI:_** GOOD MORNING EVERYONE!!!!

 

 ** _Moon Taeil:_** Shut up, Lucas.

 

 ** _oh! joHNNY:_** literally stfu you asshat

 

 ** _XUXI:_** I BREATHED

 

 ** _oh! joHNNY:_** then stop breathing so loud

 ** _oh! joHNNY:_** or in general

 

 ** _ten out of 10:_** wow johnny’s in a particularly good mood today

 ** _ten out of 10:_** did no one ever tell you how to turn off capslock @ lucas its annoying as hell

 

 ** _LUCAS:_** I BROKE MY PHONE THE OTHER DAY AND EVER SINCE I HAVENT BEEN ABLE TO GET RID OFF CAPSLOCK

 

 ** _the Mom (tm)_** ** _:_** it hurts so much to read this lucas please leave this groupchat

 

 ** _XUXI:_** WHY IS EVERYONE IN SUCH A BAD MOOD TODAY DIDNT YOU ALL HAVE A SPLENDID EVENING????????

 

 ** _ten out of 10:_** tf who uses splendid

 

 ** _Moon Taeil:_** I do.

 

 ** _ten out of 10:_** thats because you, my old friend, are a grandfather

 

 ** _oh! joHNNY:_** that would also explain his “”””””sense of humour””””””

 

 ** _Moon Taeil:_** Ten and Johnny teaming up to roast innocents again, what is new?

 ** _Moon Taeil:_** Just do yourselves and everyone else a favour and admit you two are dating.

 

 ** _renjunnie:_** tea!!

 

 ** _hyuck carey:_** i love hungover taeil-hyung

 

 ** _ten out of 10:_** imma beat you up you brats

 

 ** _Moon Taeil:_** Threatening minors? I’m disappointed, Ten.

 ** _Moon Taeil:_** Also, tea? Did you make breakfast for your hyungs, Renjun?

 

 ** _the Mom (tm)_** ** _:_** at this point i dont even know if hes joking or not

 

[12:04 pm]

 ** _jaehyunnie (_** ** _ノ_** ** _*_** ** _゜_** ** _▽_** ** _゜_** ** _*):_** good morning everyone! (/^▽^)/ yongie and i will get up in a bit and we’ll make breakfast

 ** _jaehyunnie (_** ** _ノ_** ** _*_** ** _゜_** ** _▽_** ** _゜_** ** _*):_** any volunteers to help?

 

 ** _hyuck carey:_** me

 

 ** _nana:_** me too!

 

 

donghyuck and jaemin exited chenle’s room, aware not to step over jisung who sat right next the door because his charging cable was too short. they made their way downstairs into to kitchen and all the while, donghyuck was mumbling something to himself which jaemin couldn’t make out, but he was sure he had heard the words ‘idiot’ and ‘mark’.

they followed the smell of bacon and scrambled eggs into the kitchen. when they reached the soruce of the heavenly smells, they were greeted by jaehyun and taeyong already making breakfast. jaehyun had hugged the older from behind and he was turning the bacon strips in a pan while taeyong was occupied with the eggs in another pan.

jaehyun pressed a last kiss to taeyong’s temple before he peeled himself off his boyfriend’s back and he turned around to greet the two teenagers.

“morning,” jaehyun said and smiled widely. jaemin noticed he was in a very good mood even though he also must have had a lot of alcohol yesterday.

“that... was the softest and most domestic thing i have ever seen,” dongyhuck said in awe, pretending to wipe a tear away and jaemin could only agree.

taeyong turned around as well, his ears bright red before he saw jaemin’s sweater. “isn’t that jeno’s?” he asked.

“it is. he gave it to me because it was so cold,” jaemin explained, ignoring the knowing look jaehyun gave him. “i’ll make sure to wash it before i return it, don’t worry.”

suddenly someone busted through the door, startling all four of them. it was yukhei who was being chased by a furious ten. “help me, he wants to kill me,” yukhei shrieked and hid behind taeyong whose lithe frame did nothing to hid the chinese’s broad shoulders.

“what did you do this time?” jaehyun inquiered after he made sure ten would not try to attack yukhei again and perhaps hurt his precious taeyong by doing so.

“he kept showing me the photos _everyone of you_ took of johnny and me yesterday,” ten said bitterly and narrowed his eyes at yukhei. “and he wouldn’t shut up about it.”

“now come on, ten, do you really think that’s a good reason to beat someone up?” jaehyun scolded him and jaemin had to suppress a chuckle when jaehyun even put a hand on his hip.

“you mean it isn’t?” ten replied.

“whatever.” jaehyun rolled his eyes. “you two can make some coffee for us, and don’t you dare messing that up. i’m sure you don’t want dongyoung’s wrath over you.”

the two boys huffed but complied and went to look for cups in the cupboards. then ten suddenly turned to donghyuck again. “by the way, mark told me to send you over. he’s really miserable and he said something about your magical cuddles? or something gross like that at least.”

jaemin was sure he wasn’t the only one who had never seen donghyuck act this fast. he quickly stumbled forwards to put some bacon and eggs on a plate, filled a glass of water and stormed up to his boyfriend.

yukhei shook his head. “that kid is so whipped,” he mumbled.

the rest continued to prepare everything for breakfast, or almost lunch at this point. jaemin had always thought of himself as pretty good at cooking, but now he knew all his cooking experiences were nothing against cooking for eighteen hungry and mostly hungover boys. in addition, it turned out yukhei was an absolute disaster in the kitchen and he almost destroyed a coffee cup twice.

the other boys filled the living room soon after, all of them making sure everyone had a plate and cutlery. they didn’t even bother on cleaning the table from all the empty packages of the snacks they had had last night, and just assembled on the couch and in front of it to have their meal.

by now jaemin was sure everyone had realised he was wearing jeno’s clothes. every once in a while dongyoung or jaehyun would eye him suspiciously while he sat next to jeno on the floor and ate. he didn’t pay attention to it, though, until jeno sneezed. that was when jaemin realised that jeno had only slept in his short-sleeved pyjamas.

“gosh, jeno, did you catch a cold? i’m so sorry, here, let me get you a blanket,” he rambled and stood up to snatch a blanket from the couch to wrap it around jeno’s shoulders. he made sure to wrap it around jeno’s neck as well to prevent him from starting to cough as well.

 

///

 

jaemin stayed a bit longer to help chenle with cleaning up most of the mess they had created. jeno left with jaehyun and taeyong and jaemin almost wanted to ask jeno if he could come over for a little while but he decided against it.

renjun and jaemin left together. renjun had walked over to chenle so jaemin had to walk while having his bike rolling next to him.

“what was that again about jeno not liking you?” renjun asked with a smirk as soon as they left the house.

“he was just being ni-“

“no, he wasn’t just being nice, jaemin. i wouldn’t have given you my sweater and i’m probably the nicest person you’ve ever met,” renjun stated, making the other roll his eyes. “and jeno also wouldn’t have given his sweater to anyone. he _always_ complains to me about how chenle lives in antarctica, you know?”

“what do you want me to do? go to him and say ‘hey, jeno, you gave me your sweater last night, let’s date’?” jaemin drawled sarcastically.

“doesn’t sound like a bad idea,” renjun retorted. “you should at least ask him out. only once. say you want to practice for the musical or something like that.”

jaemin blinked. “i – that’s actually a good, idea. thank you.”

when jaemin returned home, his mother was in the living room, watching television. he greeted her and said he’d take a nap since he had barely gotten any sleep. she just nodded and turned back to the tv again.

he tossed his bag into a corner and flopped onto his bed (he did have a real bed now), face first, when his phone vibrated in his pocket.

 

** private chat: jeYES + nana **

[4:38 pm]

 ** _jeYES:_** hey nana, you still have my sweater

 ** _nana:_** hi, i know! i wanted to wash it before i’ll return it on monday

 ** _jeYES:_** no, its fine, you can keep it

 ** _jeYES:_** it looked better on you anyways :)

 ** _nana:_** are you sure about that?

 ** _nana:_** because you killed that look tbh

 ** _jeYES:_** are you flirting with me, na jaemin?

 ** _nana:_** idk, perhaps you are the one flirting with me, lee jeno ;)

 ** _jeYES:_** but for real, you can keep the sweater

 ** _jeYES:_** i want you to keep it

 ** _nana:_** ugh ok fine

 ** _nana:_** let me give you something back then

 ** _nana:_** wanna go to mcdonalds next week? my treat

 ** _jeYES:_** of course!

 ** _nana:_** nice :) see you tomorrow in hell

 ** _nana:_** school*

 ** _jeYES:_** yup see you!

 ** _nana:_** oh and please take care of your cold, it sounded pretty bad

 ** _jeYES:_** you’re so cute nana <3

 

 

jaemin bit his lip, his heart thumping in his chest as he contemplated what to reply. he didn’t come up with anything that couldn’t be interpreted as a lowkey love confession. so he turned off his phone and laid into his fluffy pillows. the sweater still smelled like jeno, even though he had been wearing it for more than twelve hours now, and it helped him fall asleep quickly.

 

///

 

jaemin and jeno ended up going to mcdonald’s the following thursday. they had actually planned to talk about the musical but jeno had said there was something he had to tell jaemin. jaemin died to find out what it was but jeno kept telling him to be patient for a bit longer.

they both got their food and went upstairs to sit down next to one of the large windows which provided an amazing view over the district they lived in. jaemin didn’t even touch his food and looked at the other boy expectantly.

jeno whipped out his phone, scrolled a bit before he showed jaemin a photo of three little kittens. “we got them yesterday,” he told jaemin with sparkling eyes.

jaemin’s eyes widened and he snatched the phone out of his hands to get a better look at the photo. he zoomed in on every of the three animals, cooing over them, and he was sure he’d get a heart attack soon.

“aren’t you allergic to cats, though?” jaemin asked as he handed jeno his phone back.

“i am, but i’ve got medicaments. have you seen them, though? taking medicaments twice a day is _so_ worth it, i swear,” jeno laughed.

“honestly, i don’t know if i should find this cute or really sad,” jaemin admitted, even though he knew _exactly_ how he found the way jeno looked at the photo of his new babies as if they were his whole world. “i’ll make sure to visit you even more often now, just to play with them.”

“because we don’t already visit each other almost everyday. i’d be surprised if you could focus on something else than me for only five minutes,” jeno joked.

jaemin froze and stared at jeno with his mouth agape.

“dude, chill, i was just joking. is the thought of liking me that horrible?” jeno asked with a grin, but jaemin knew he was hurt by it, like he tended to be at things like that.

“no, i swear it isn’t,” jaemin quickly said. “in fact, it’s the best thing that could ever happen to me. i just don’t think you’d ever like me back.”

jaemin had to think of the first time jeno and him had ever had a conversation. back then, after he had made a fool of himself, he had told himself to get it together as soon as possible. and now, more than two weeks later, he still hadn’t made any progress. and just like the first time, he wanted to hit himself again.

“oh, well, uh,” jeno stuttered. “you wouldn’t have to worry about that, i guess?”

jeno laughed nervously before he took a large bite of his big mac, silently telling jaemin that he wanted to talk about something else. the other picked up the hint and started to ask jeno all kinds of questions about his cats.

jeno’s face instantly lit up again and he didn’t even get to swallow before he began talking about how adorable they were, and how he even dreamt of their little cute paws. at the same time jaemin was sure his heart would combust any time soon.

they finished their burgers in no time and when they left the building, they realised the sun had already started to set.

“do you want me to give you a ride? i noticed you walked here and i got here with my bike,” jeno pointed out. “i know your mum doesn’t want you going on your own at that time anyways.”

“that would be great, jeno,” jaemin said and watched jeno trying to unlock the lock.

“do you mind sitting on the back? you can also sit at the front i don’t mind either way,” jeno asked as he had finally unlocked his bike after three failed attempts.

“i can sit at the back. let’s just hope the police won’t catch us,” jaemin grinned which earned him a smile from jeno.

“alright, i’ll sit up at first and then you can sit as well. you can also put your arms, uh, around me, if you want.”

as soon as jaemin was seated behind jeno’s broad figure, his arms wrapped around his waist, he was sure there was no place he’d rather be. his heart was beating like crazy and he was sure he was blushing. the muscles in jeno’s back rippled when he was pedalling and jaemin was pretty sure he felt his abdominal muscles working as well.

it wasn’t too cold, a slight breeze was running through their hair, but still jaemin made sure to snuggle up as close as possible. jeno would – hopefully – just think he was afraid of falling off. he knew they must have looked straight out of these cheesy romance drama his mother liked to watch together with him, and he loved it.

jeno dropped him off way too soon at his house. it had gotten even darker and jaemin offered jeno to stay overnight, but the latter refused, saying he still had some homework to do. but he promised to text him as soon as he got home and jaemin made sure to remind him of sending him some more photos of the kittens.

his mother waited for him in the kitchen. “sweetie, did you walk alone by yourself?” she greeted him with a worried look.

“no, don’t worry, mum. jeno, he drove me home,” jaemin told her.

“ah, jeno. he’s such a nice guy, you two are best friends, right? you really fit together so well, i’m glad you managed to find someone like him,” she said genuinely.

“thanks, mum. i’m also glad we met,” jaemin replied.

“you like him, don’t you?”

“what?”

“you heard me, jae. and i wouldn’t mind if you did like him. you’ve been spending a lot of time with him and i see the way you smile when he’s mentioned or when he writes you a message,” his mother said, almost scolding.

“yeah, i guess, i do like him,” jaemin admitted. “am i really that obvious?”

“yes, you are,” she laughed. “there’s no way you two aren’t dating.”

“actually, he doesn’t know...”

his mother looked at him with wide eyes and he broke out into a smile at her expression. she joined in shortly after and it took them a couple minutes to get their giggles to die down.

his mother told him a bit about her day at work, and afterwards asked him how the preparations for the musical were going. he told her that they were probably going to meet up at the weekend to read the script together and practice singing a few songs.

when he yawned, she made him go to bed. he brushed his teeth, washed his face before he went to bed. he didn’t even get to check his phone before he fell asleep.

 

///

 

the six of them met up multiple times a week to practice for their musical, either they stayed in school after class or met up at the weekend. they would have their first show before christmas break and even when it sounded like a long time when not even summer had ended. but they were responsible enough to work as hard as possible and as often as they could.

practicing almost daily also meant that jaemin spent even more time with jeno than usual. at this point he wasn’t sure anymore if it was a blessing or a curse.

jeno, jisung and jaemin would rap some parts in the songs of their musical and jaemin found that both of them were extremely talented and would get self-conscious sometimes. however, the two would make sure to let him know that he was just as good as them, and most of the time, it was jeno who showered him with compliments. therefore, it had become a daily occurrence that jaemin would cry over him in renjun’s private messages but he couldn’t bring himself to apologise, let alone stop it.

it didn’t exactly help that every couple he knew started getting more affectionate the closer christmas came. jaehyun and taeyong even wore matching winter themed socks and starting from december 1st, mark and donghyuck took turns in making each other little gifts every day.

jaemin was jealous and he wanted someone (jeno) he could also be cute with.

it was a couple days before their showcase, and they were backstage, getting ready for performing the musical in front of the teachers and their friends. jaemin was most likely the only one who was really nervous as it was the first time performing something in front of an actual audience. it wasn’t that he didn’t trust his abilities, him and the others had been practicing non-stop, but he was scared of messing up due to his nervousness, which led to even more nervousness.

“here take this,” jeno said and handed him a bottle of water. “i know how you’re feeling, we all do. even hyuck does.”

they looked over to donghyuck who was sitting on an old prop that looked like it had been used last century. his expression looked unbothered but his hands were shaking and his breathing was shallow.

“but you’ll do great, nana,” jeno assured him.

jaemin smiled around the bottle and thanked the older. jeno smiled back and jaemin turned away.

over the time, jaemin’s stupid high school crush had turned into something much more deep, and everyday it was getting harder for him to not kiss that goofy smile off of jeno’s lips.

an announcement startled the two, both lost in their own thoughts. they were informed that they could now come out onto the stage. jeno took jaemin’s hand, squeezed it tightly, before he let go and they went onto the stage.

they were all happy to see their friends cheering for them, and even taeil had come to watch them.

the first song started playing and they went into their start position. their bodies moved automatically to the song, perfectly dancing the choreography and they knew all their lyrics by heart.

it gave jaemin a thrill, seeing his teachers with pleased expressions as they scribbled down notes.

the teacher, their characters were attracted to, was being played by an alumni who had introduced herself as wendy. wendy herself was a singer as well, and it was obvious she was made to be on a stage.

as their last song ended, their audience couldn’t stay on their seats and they jumped up, clapping loudly. even their teachers, who were known to be very hard to please, stood up and applauded.

they bowed multiple times, before they jumped down the stage to talk to their teachers about things they could improve and things they should focus on more. they ended up staying at school until eight, when their parents finally called it a day.

donghyuck and mark left together, chenle, renjun and jisung would be driven home by kun, and jaehyun was responsible for jeno and jaemin.

they walked up to the car jaemin knew inside and out by now and he immediately made himself comfortable on the backseat. jeno slipped in next to him and jaehyun took the steering wheel.

“guys, i need your advice. especially yours, jeno, but jaemin you are of course free to help as well,” jaehyun started. “i want to ask taeyongie to move in with me.”

jeno clapped excitedly. “that’s a really good idea, hyung! he’s been wanting to move out ever since he turned eighteen.”

“yeah, i know, that’s why i wanted to ask him anyways. i just don’t know how... jaemin, aren't you such a romantic? do you have an idea?”

jaemin thought about it for a while before an idea struck him. “you already live on your own, right? well, how about you decorate your apartment really pretty and then, after you have taken him out on dinner or something like that, you take him to your apartment and them give him his own key?”

“you, na jaemin, are a genius. thank you so much,” jaehyun grinned at him through the rear view mirror. “i don’t know how i didn’t think of this earlier.”

“i’m sure he’ll like it a lot,” jeno clinked himself in. “taeyong-hyung is a pretty big softie and he loves cute and cheesy things. i’ll help you setting everything up, if you want.”

“ya, you don’t have to. i’m sure you have your own sweetheart to worry about during christmas,” the older suggested with a wink.

jaemin swallowed. now he’d find out the truth; if jeno had his eyes on someone else.

“i’m not sure he likes me, to be honest. i think he just wants to be friends,” jeno mumbled, awkwardly fiddling with his fingers.

“oh, that’s a pity,” jaehyun commented. “i hope you’ll get to figure out if he likes you, though. you never know, maybe he thinks the same way as you.”

jaemin and jeno huffed at the same time and a silence followed.

jaemin got dropped off at his own house, he told both of them good bye and went up to the apartment complex. he turned around again and saw jaehyun’s car still standing there and jaemin’s heart swelled at the thought of jaehyun making sure he got home safe.

when he checked his phone after a long shower, he saw jaehyun had messaged him.

 

 

 ** private chat: jaehyunnie ( ** ** ノ ** ** * ** ** ゜ ** ** ▽ ** ** ゜ ** ** *) ; nana **

**_jaehyunnie (_** ** _ノ_** ** _*_** ** _゜_** ** _▽_** ** _゜_** ** _*):_** he meant you!!!!

 

 

the boy just sighed, turned his phone off, plugged it in and went straight to bed. did jeno really like him? was his flirting maybe more than just a joke between two good friends? hell, jaemin’s flirting was definitely more than that, but he made sure to keep it bay so he could brush it off as a gag.

but it looked like everyone was right – jeno really was an idiot for not getting how obviously head over heels jaemin was for him.

 

///

 

christmas came closer and so did d-day. their musical was set to take place during the last week of school before christmas break. they even had even put posters on every free wall in their school to promote themselves.

the morning of _the_ day, jaemin felt like throwing up. his heart was racing, his hands shaking and he couldn’t even down a single spoon of cereal. his mother looked at him with a concerned expression but she knew there was nothing she could do to help him.

from the looks of it, his friends were in a similar state. they couldn’t even talk to each other so they just tried to get through their classes without imploding from excitement.

their performance was not gonna start until it was pretty late, so they all decided to go home before they’d meet up at the school again. that way, they could take a shower and maybe have a nap (which was pretty unlikely).

it was already dark when they returned to the school. it had also been getting really cold and jaemin wore the sweater jeno had given him ages ago. he didn’t miss the way jeno’s face lit up at the sight of jaemin in his clothes, before he pulled him into a tight hug.

donghyuck had texted them he’d come a little late, so they decided to already get inside before they’d die from the coldness. the hallways and rooms were decorated in red and green and it strangely smelled like cinnamon and apples.

they went to their backstage room, their outfits hanging on a rack and make up products spread out in front of the large mirror. jaemin and jeno took turns in putting on a bit of concealer to hide their eyebags as well as powdering one another’s forehead and nose.

“nana, i’m nervous,” jeno admitted and jaemin saw the way his lips trembled.

the younger laid a hand on his knee to stop his leg from bouncing and he tucked a strand of jeno’s black hair behind his ear. “there’s no need for you to be nervous. you’ll do amazingly, trust me.” he let his hand stay at the back of jeno’s neck. they both leaned in slowly but surely, until jaemin could count the lashes on jeno’s eyes-

“guys, sorry for being so late, mark’s car stopped working in the middle of the road!”

jeno flinched away as if he had burned himself and jaemin quickly pulled his hands away from jeno’s body. he glared at donghyuck who looked at them as if he had seen a ghost. he opened his mouth, closed it and opened it again – he reminded jaemin of a fish like this.

“i’ll just, um, go and... text uh, my cats, i mean my parents,” jeno said hastily before he hurried to his feet and walked away.

he didn’t see jeno before their performance was only ten minutes away. they rubbed each other’s backs, made sure the mics worked and other pointless things they had been doing for the past twenty minutes. jaemin did the mistake and peeked through the curtains. the hall was crammed full of people; parents, students, teachers.

“guys, i don’t think i can do this,” jisung mumbled.

“last year it was like this, too, do you remember,” chenle asked him and laid an arm around his shoulder. “and back then you said you couldn’t do it as well. but you made it, we all made it. and you’ll be able to do it tonight, too.”

jaemin zoned out and it took him a minute to realise that jeno had grabbed his hand and intertwined their fingers. he gave the younger a reassuring squeeze, and even though it was a simply gesture, jaemin really did feel more at ease.

at some point, mark also joined them backstage and he was now trying to give a pep-talk to donghyuck who looked like he was about to cry.

jaemin only realised everything as if through a half-transparent curtain. they walked up on stage, performed their songs in what felt like a minute but it was actually almost fourty minutes long. they received thunderous applause, bowed at their audience and walked off.

just as soon as they disappeared behind the curtain, it was as if someone had pulled a plug and it all came crashing down at once. he practically fell onto the chair in front of the mirror and hid his face in his hands. he was still high on the adrenaline he had gotten from being on stage, but at the same time he was so relieved it was over. he felt like shouting until there was no more air in his lungs or something just to relieve the chaos of feelings inside of him.

he looked through his fingers and in the mirror he saw jeno walking up from behind him. and at that moment, he blamed the rush of adrenaline, he decided he was tired of starving off his feelings for the other. he was tired of seeing jeno everyday and not being able to tell him how he felt, what jeno made him feel. and even if his decision would ruin their friendship, he wanted to feel jeno’s lips. just this once.

so he rose up from his seat, walked up to the perplexed jeno, took his cute cheeks into his hands and pressed his lips onto the other one’s.

the mess of feelings inside him suddenly disappeared and his world narrowed down to the feeling of jeno’s lips against his own. his thumb gently stroked over jeno’s cheekbones and he just couldn’t get enough. he stopped breathing altogether and squeezed his eyes shut, savouring the moment as long as he could.

just as he tried to pull away, ready to explain himself and maybe confess, jeno’s large hands came to rest on jaemin’s hips and he pulled his body flush against jaemin’s smaller one. he felt jeno’s smile against his lips and he grinned into the kiss.

“took you long enough,” renjun’s voice suddenly pulled them back to earth.

the two separatd in mere miliseconds as if that would make renjun forget what he saw.

“h-how long have you been standing here?” jaemin asked as he inhaled shakily.

“long enough,” the chinese replied dryly. “but what can i say, i’m happy for you two. and you finally got rid of the u-s-t.”

“what’s u – hold on, i doubt i want to know,” jaemin said and he shook his head.

“anyways, i wanted to say that i’ll be going home now, my parents are waiting for me, actually. and i was sent to tell you from taeyong-hyung that he’s waiting in the car. so you two can continue whatever you were doing before, i suppose.”

he waved at them before he disappeared through the door. silence came after that.

jeno cleared his throat. “i, uh, guess i gotta tell you something.”

they decided to take a walk outside. their phone’s flashlights served as light source so they would not accidentally trip. as soon as they had left the building, they wrapped their jackets closer around their shivering bodies.

“i like you,” jeno blurted out after a while of quietly walking next to each other. “i have for quite a while, but i wasn’t sure if you, if you liked me, too.”

“jeno, you’re such an idiot,” jaemin laughed. “i’ve been in love with you forever. everyone else knew that.”

jeno had the audacity to pout which made jaemin’s heart melt despite the cold temperatures. jaemin stretched his neck to kiss the pout off of his lips, as jeno’s immediate response by kissing him back startled him.

“but what about that time when you told hyuck we were just friends? i was heart-broken,” jeno told him and clutched his chest theatrically.

“i just panicked, i guess. and i didn’t want to make you uncomfortable. to be honest, i just didn’t want to lose whatever we had by messing it up, you know?” jaemin explained.

“does this mean we are a thing now?” jeno asked shyly.

“we definitely are, jeno,” jaemin agreed with a grin. “shall we get back to the school, so we can pick up our stuff? i bet taeyong’s worrying where we are.”

they did just that and as they left the school once again, they realised it had started snowing. jeno blinked at jaemin, the melting snow clumping his lashes together and he grinned before he leaned in to press a kiss to the younger’s nose.

“nana, can i hold your hand? or is that too much?”

“i thought you’d never ask.”

 

///

 

** NEO CRACKHEAD TEENS **

[11:38 pm]

 ** _yongie (_** ** _✿_** **_♥_** ** _‿_** ** _♥_** ** _):_** gUYSDS

 ** _yongie (_** ** _✿_** **_♥_** ** _‿_** ** _♥_** ** _):_** nomin happened!!!

 

 ** _not fat kun:_** what’s a nomin?

 

 ** _XUXI:_** JENO AND JAEMIN YOU IDIOT

 

 ** _not fat kun:_** that’s idiot-hyung to you

 

 ** _nana:_** hyungggg

 

 ** _yongie (_** ** _✿_** **_♥_** ** _‿_** ** _♥_** ** _):_** sorry nana, i’m just so glad you finally confessed! o(^▽^)o you two are the cutest ever

 

 ** _hyuck carey:_** what are my eyes reading here

 ** _hyuck carey:_** nomin finally got their heads out their asses

 

 ** _ten out of 10:_** i feel like this would be an amazing opportunity to make a joke about their heads and asses but i respect the fact that there are babies present

 

 ** _hyuck carey:_** omg pm me!

 

 ** _ten out of 10:_** you are the baby, hyuck

 

 ** _oh! joHNNY:_** lol

 

 ** _jeYES:_** guyS I LOVE NA JAEMIN WITH ALL MY HEART

 ** _jeYES:_** oh i didn’t read the messages above

 

 ** _renjunnie:_** i can’t belive i asked you to be my friend

 

 ** _hyuck carey:_** same

 

 ** _nana:_** hey that’s my boyfriend you’re insulting >:(

 

 ** _jeYES:_** omg nana <3

 

 ** _nana:_** <3

 

 ** _jaehyunnie (_** ** _ノ_** ** _*_** ** _゜_** ** _▽_** ** _゜_** ** _*):_** hey why did yongie just squeal

 ** _jaehyunnie (_** ** _ノ_** ** _*_** ** _゜_** ** _▽_** ** _゜_** ** _*):_** nvm

 

 ** _sicheng’s #1 fan:_** sicheng this could be us

 ** _sicheng’s #1 fan:_** but you keep playing

 

 ** _ten out of 10:_** i didn’t even know you were still in this chat yuta

 

 ** _oh! joHNNY:_** i bet he’s been lurking the whole time

 

 ** _sicheng:_** yuta please leave me alone (´;ω;｀)

 

 ** _Moon Taeil:_** Exactly, Yuta, leave Sicheng alone. Can you not see you are making him uncomfortable?

 

 ** _sicheng:_** you’re not better hyung (*>_<*)

 

 ** _sicheng’s #1 fan:_** get rekt hyung

 

 ** _mork:_** ok but is no one gonna comment on the fact that johnny only says something when ten does?

 

 ** _ten out of 10:_** no

 

 ** _oh! joHNNY:_** johnny? what’s a johnny?

 

 ** _mork:_** johnten try being subtle challenge: failed

 

 ** _ten out of 10:_** mark istg shut the f up

 

 ** _mork:_** <3

 

///

 

** NEO CRACKHEAD TEENS **

[7:06 am]

 ** _nana:_** hello and welcome to my daily i love lee jeno message

 ** _nana:_** i love lee jeno

 

 ** _ten out of 10:_** we been knew sis

 

 ** _Moon Taeil:_** He really was not joking when he said he would tell us everyday.

 

 ** _nana:_** today’s edition of Things I Love About Jeno: his voice

 ** _nana:_** he always sings in the shower and i swear its the most beautiful thing ever, i love a multi-talented king??

 ** _nana:_** he also sometimes reads me a book or some of his lyrics at night and its just so calming

 ** _nana:_** like his voice was actually made to be heard by everyone

 ** _nana:_** not to forget when he laughs! i kid you not, whenever he laughs or just giggles, my heart explodes??

 ** _nana:_** hes always so self-conscious about his laugh but ugghh its the most angelic sound i’ve ever heard

 

 ** _ten out of 10:_** i just puked in my mouth a little

 

 ** _oh! joHNNY:_** actually he’s just hugging his pillow and screaming about how cute they are

 ** _oh! joHNNY:_** not that i’m in his bedroom or anything

 

 ** _hyuck carey:_** why are all of you awake in the middle of the night

 

 ** _Moon Taeil:_** It is past 7 am, Donghyuck.

 

 ** _hyuck carey:_** but its sunday

 

 ** _nana:_** omg omg omg omg jeno just woke up

 ** _nana:_** and now hes all grumpy because its so early

 ** _nana:_** he’s pouting and i swear im so soft

 ** _nana:_** now hes asking for cuddles gtg folks, i have to cuddle my mans to death

 

 ** _ten out of 10:_** im not crying you are

 

jaemin gently put his phone under his pillow before he rolled over to the sleepy jeno. he scooted closer until jeno snuggled his face into jaemin’s chest and sighed contentedly.

 

september, 2018

**Author's Note:**

> sorry @ my main mans kun for giving him like no screen time :') but at least he had like 1.7 lines in the gc which is still more than sm is giving him
> 
> also, this was my first time writing something this long with aCtuAL pLOt, so feel free to leave any feedback here in the comments or on [tumblr](https://jnwonu.tumblr.com/) | [twitter](https://twitter.com/nvventeen) (but of course y'all can also follow me or just message me to yell about nct). i liked this au a lot, and i'd gladly write more ( after all i did hint at enough other ships lmao) so if you want you can request something!
> 
> stream we go up!
> 
> [carrd](https://aboutklara.carrd.co/)


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